| ----- VERSE OF THE DAY: MAN AND WOMAN - TOP "(God) created you (all) from a single soul, and out of it brought into being its mate, so that man might incline (with love) toward woman." The Holy Quran, 7:189 ----- MYRICK'S CHIEF OF STAFF LEAVING - TOP
Jim Morrill, Charlotte Observer, 2/14/11 Hal Weatherman, longtime chief of staff for U.S. Rep. Sue Myrick, is leaving to join a non-profit group focused on national security and what it calls "the assault of radical Islam." Weatherman has been with Myrick since 1995, her first year in Congress, and served the last 12 years as her chief of staff. He'll become national communications and marketing director for Act!
for America, a Pensacola-based group that claims over 160,000 members nationwide. (More) SEE ALSO: BACKGROUNDER: BRIGITTE GABRIEL AND ACT! FOR AMERICA - TOP ACT! for America leader Brigitte Gabriel claims an American Muslim "cannot be a loyal citizen" and that Islam is the "real enemy." She once told the Australian Jewish News: "Every practicing Muslim is a radical Muslim." She also claimed that "Islamo-fascism is a politically-correct word ... it's the vehicle for Islam ... Islam is the problem." When asked whether Americans should "resist Muslims who want to seek political office in this nation," Gabriel said: "Absolutely. If a Muslim who has -- who is -- a practicing Muslim who believes the word of the Koran to be the word of Allah, who abides by Islam, who goes to mosque and prays every Friday, who prays five times a day -- this practicing Muslim, who believes in the teachings of the Koran, cannot be a loyal citizen to the United States of America." Gabriel stated: "America and the West are doomed to failure in this war unless they stand up and identify the real enemy: Islam."
Along with her stated desire to have Muslims barred from public office, Gabriel has also claimed that Arabs "have no soul" and that Muslims worship "something they call 'Allah,' which is very different from the God we believe [in]." SEE: A Case Study in Sincere Hypocrisy: Brigitte Gabriel
Video: Brigitte Gabriel Says Arabs Have No Souls
A person staffing an ACT! for America information table in Florida was caught on video bragging that he desecrated the Quran, Islam's revealed text, and urinates in the washing stations Muslims use to perform their ritual ablutions (wudu) for prayer. That person states: "Their foot baths, I love pissing in them ... The Quran makes worthless toilet paper. It just kind of scratches my a** a little bit ... To me, I like desecrating their [Muslims'] holy stuff."
----- FORMER TOP U.S. GENERAL SAYS CONSTITUTION SHOULD NOT PROTECT MUSLIMS - TOP
William G. Boykin, 2/11/11
We tend to assume Islam deserves unquestioned First Amendment protection. But it is a totalitarian way of life with aggressive political goals, not just a religion. What is to be done? The Founders who wrote the U.S. Constitution were very aware that the citizens of this nascent nation wanted the freedom to choose their own manner of worship. They made history by forbidding religious tests for public office in Article VI. They added the First Amendment to ensure that Americans would be protected from government interference in their spiritual affairs. But a dilemma exists in our nation today concerning whether or how the First Amendment should properly be applied to Islam. This essay will show that the ultimate outcome of blanket protection for Islam in all its manifestations on the grounds of "religious freedom" would be the establishment of Islamic law and government, or Sharia, alongside or in place of civil law and government in this country ... . Islam does have a religious component but it has many other components, which should not be entitled to the same level of constitutional protection ... . Our First Amendment was never meant to protect sedition or insurgency. It is time to stop applying it in this suicidal fashion. Even as you read this, law and policy in the United States are continuing to allow seditious insurgents hiding behind a nave misinterpretation of "religious freedom" to erode our values, undermine our liberties, and threaten our future. We must stop it now before we are incapable of stopping it at all. (More) SEE ALSO: RIGHT FRACTURES OVER ISLAM - TOP
Byron Tau, Politico, 2/12/11
While a gay rights controversy drew headlines at this year's Conservative Political Action Conference, another -- and even more bitter -- dispute rippled as views varied widely on how to reconcile the conservative movement with Islam in the United States. At the 38th annual conservative gathering, there was no shortage of accusations of Islamist sympathies, Muslim Brotherhood infiltration and charges of fear-mongering. Republican presidential hopefuls, including Newt Gingrich and John Thune, also drew applause with suggestions that the Obama administration has taken a politically correct blind eye to the connection between radical Islam and terrorism. Freshman Rep. Allen West also drew thunderous applause in his keynote speech about the threat to America posed by Islam and other security threats. And as Republican candidates define their national security stands in the 2012 elections, conservative discomfort with Islam in America will be a feature of the debate ... . "Sometimes when you hear snide comments about Jews in the '50s or Muslims today -- we've been through this. The Republican party chased away the Catholic vote for over a hundred years," said Grover Norquist, an ACU board member and a tax activist who has tried to bring Muslim voters in to the GOP for more than a decade. "You chase away people politically. The thing about the political effects of bigotry -- it can last generations. It's tough to fix." (More) --- RELIGIOUS WAR COMES TO CPAC - TOP
Sarah Posner, The Nation, 2/14/11
Sarah Posner is associate editor of Religion Dispatches, where she writes a blog about religion and politics. The Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), the annual three-day parade of GOP presidential hopefuls delivering paeans to God, country and capitalism, was this year embroiled in a full-scale, intra-party religious war. The conservative movement, according to a group of Islamophobic activists, has been taken over by the Muslim Brotherhood, which they claim supports Sharia, "a supremacist program that justifies the destruction of Christian churches and parishioners" and "the replacement of our constitutional republic ... with a theocratic Islamic caliphate governing according to shari'ah." That charge came straight out of a flyer handed to me by Krista Hughes, an employee of the Center for Security Policy (CSP), whose president Frank Gaffney is one of the principal ringleaders in the rightwing propaganda campaign to strike fear in Americans' hearts that a fifth column of Muslim extremists seeks to subvert America from within. At CPAC, Gaffney's chief target is Suhail Khan, a former Republican House staffer, Bush administration political appointee and current Senior Fellow at an evangelical think tank focused on religious freedom. Khan, a self-described devout Muslim who serves on the board of the American Conservative Union, CPAC's organizer, is a conservative through and through. Raised in the San Francisco Bay area, he told me the atmosphere at UC Berkeley, where he attended college, turned him off and led him to his current political persuasion. But Khan's conservative cred is of no moment to Gaffney, who has waged war against him as well as conservative movement icon Grover Norquist, also an ACU board member, because, Gaffney insists, they are both in league with anti-American Islamists. Khan, who told me earlier this year that CPAC had shunned Gaffney because he is a "crazy bigot," has withstood a barrage of Gaffney's conspiratorial histrionics, which are reminiscent of the charge by John Birch Society founder Robert Welch that Dwight Eisenhower was a secret communist agent. (More) ----- FBI RULES ANTI-MUSLIM GRAFFITI WASN'T HATE CRIME - TOP
Linda Leicht, News-Leader, 2/12/11
When members of the Islamic Center in Springfield arrived for prayers Jan. 8, they were confronted with hate-filled graffiti scrawled across the walls of the building. "You bash us in Pakistan. We bash you here," the red spray paint said. One message, "Allah F ... bar" implied an understanding of an Arabic saying, Allahu akbar -- God is great. (More) SEE ALSO: PARENTS UPSET OVER USE OF THE QURAN IN CLASSROOM - TOP
Brad Broders, News 14, 2/10/11
ALBEMARLE – More than 100 people came out Thursday night in Albemarle to raise concern about an incident involving the holy book of Islam. Some parents say a teacher passed the Quran around a Stanly County middle school classroom. The use of an Islamic holy book in a Stanly County classroom has at least one parent up in arms. James Hinds, of Albemarle, said he was furious a few months ago when his daughter told him the Islamic holy book 'the Quran' was shown by her teacher in class at North Stanly Middle School. "A picture can show them what they needed to know. They didn't actually have to physically put the book in my child's face," Hinds said. District officials said Thursday the Quran was used as an artifact not as an instructional tool and that the discussion of religious differences in the world was well within the proper social studies curriculum. (More) --- CA: HUNDREDS PROTEST MUSLIM CHARITY FUNDRAISING EVENT - TOP
Jan Norman, Orange County Register, 2/12/11
YORBA LINDA – Several hundred people from as far away as Corona and the San Fernando Valley filled the lawn outside the Yorba Linda Community Center Sunday afternoon and lined Imperial Highway in response to a fundraising event by a Queens, N.Y.-based Muslim group Islamic Circle of North America Relief USA. People started gathering about 3 p.m., two-and-a-half hours before the fundraiser began. Many in the crowd waved U.S. flags and carried signs saying, "God Bless America" and "No Sharia Law," in reference to Islam's sacred law. In the afternoon, the event had the atmosphere of a July 4 picnic. Many brought lawn chairs and blankets, sang patriotic songs and tied red, white and blue bandanas on their dogs. As the fundraiser started, a splinter group of about 100 stood about 50 yards from the community center entrance and booed, yelled "go home" and chanted "no Sharia law" as attendees entered the building. Among their signs were ones that said "ICNA supports Hamas and Hezbollah." ICNA spokesman Syed Waqas said the protesters "should know the facts. We have no links to any overseas organization. We absolutely denounce violence and terrorism." He said the group started in Southern California about eight months ago and is trying to raise $350,000 to start social programs such as women's shelters, fighting hunger and homelessness in the area. (More) ----- MUSLIM STUDENTS, YOUNG VETS ORGANIZE BLOOD DRIVE - TOP
Blood Drive at Mesa College Scheduled For Wednesday
10News, 2/13/11
SAN DIEGO -- A new partnership at Mesa College is bringing Muslim students and young veterans together. Richard Gilbert is a former Marine sniper. Navy veteran Edward Higuera has been deployed to the Persian Gulf three times. They are both now students at Mesa College and said they became unsure of themselves around Muslim students ... . Those were issues that all were forced to deal with when Higuera, who heads the college's student veterans group, approached leaders from the Muslim student group to work together. The Muslim students agreed, and for their first project, the two groups organized a blood drive that is full of symbolic meaning. "We want to gather blood for a purpose rather than shed it," said Higuera. As they worked together toward that purpose, they started talking and the wall has slowly crumbled. Friendships between the two groups of students have been formed. (More) SEE ALSO: CORVALLIS MOSQUE & COMMUNITY PLANT PEACE TREE, CELEBRATING DIFFERENCES - TOP
KMTR, 2/14/11
CORVALLIS, Ore. (KMTR) -- A continued show of support for the Corvallis Muslim community from the greater community on Sunday, months after arson destroyed a large part of its building. "My prayer for today is just that. That we do not consider this day an ending.. But a new beginning," said Reverend Elizabeth Oettinger of First Congregational United Church of Christ, during a ceremony on Sunday. More than 100 community members helped plant a peace tree at the Salman Alfarisi Islamic Center in Corvallis on Sunday, February 13th, 2011. In November 2010, someone threw a fire bomb into the Islamic Center's office, burning thousands of dollars worth of equipment, religious texts, furniture and other items. The FBI is still investigating the arson. It has yet to name or arrest a suspect, but has investigated a person of interest in the case. (More) ----- VIDEO: CAIR DIRECTOR JOINS CELEBRATION OUTSIDE EGYPTIAN EMBASSY IN D.C. - TOP
ABC7, 2/11/11 CAIR National Executive Director Nihad Awad joins the celebrations on Friday outside the Egyptian embassy in Washington, D.C. Watch the video.
SEE ALSO: CAIR-TAMPA: CAIR HOLDS PICNIC FOR EGYPT - TOP
2/13/11
TAMPA - By now many have seen the images coming out of Cairo. Celebrations have continued non-stop after President Hosni Mubarak announced - in the face of protest - that he was stepping down as Egypt's leader on Friday. On Sunday the sounds of celebration reached the Bay area as the Council on American Islamic Relations held a picnic at Lowry Park in Tampa. (More) --- CAIR-LA: 10 EFFECTS OF THE FALL OF THE MODERN-DAY PHARAOH - TOP
Hussam Ayloush, Huffington Post, 2/11/11
Hussam Ayloush is the executive director of the Greater Los Angeles Area chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. It is hard to underestimate the importance and impact of the current popular uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt. Ben Ali hastily escaped to Saudi Arabia and Mubarak stepped down after 30-years of iron-fisted rule. The military rule now in place is a deep concern; it must end quickly and urgent steps made toward transitioning to a true democratic society in Egypt. The fall of Egypt's modern-day Pharaoh and the establishment of a true democracy will likely shape that volatile region more than anything since the fall of the Ottoman Empire. These events not only affect the entire Middle East, but will have a tremendous impact on the U.S. foreign policy as well. Decades of brutal dictators oppressing and controlling their people is coming to a forced end, and the United States' long-standing support for these autocracies must end as well. The change in Egypt, as well as Tunisia, is historic because it is not driven by any specific ideology. It is not driven by nationalist, Islamic, socialist, or political motivations. It is truly a popular movement that is bringing together the poor and the rich, young and old, religious and non-religious, Muslim and Christian, and political and non-political. It is a movement of the masses, of people seeking freedom, rights, honor, dignity, self-determination, economic prosperity, and a recognition of their humanity. The exit of Mubarak and his repressive policies will likely be a catalyst for many changes. Here are the top 10: (More) ----- CAIR-NJ: LAWYER REAPS JUDICIAL NOMINATION AFTER BUILDING BRIDGES BETWEEN MUSLIMS AND FELLOW AMERICANS - TOP
Deena Yellin, Bergen Record, 2/13/11
A Clifton lawyer who was recently nominated as a state Superior Court judge has based much of his career on building bridges to the Muslim community.
Sohail Mohammed represented more than 32 arrested detainees after 9/11. He has trained more than 7,000 law enforcement and court officers on enhanced understanding of Muslim practices. And he has organized a job fair at a Paterson mosque so Muslims could apply for law enforcement jobs. Among his proudest accomplishments in his 17-year career was his work in creating a non-denominational prayer room at Giants Stadium, a first for the National Football League. But the 47-year-old native of India, whom Governor Christie nominated for the bench in January, was reluctant to tout his impressive résumé ... . James Yee, executive director of the Council on American Islamic Relations in New Jersey, said Mohammed's nomination is "another indication of how Muslim-Americans are contributing to our state in a positive way and that through hard work, Muslims can also achieve great things." "There's still more work to be done in defending the civil rights of Muslims in this country," Yee added. "Perhaps if Sohail gets appointed, that would be a source of hope for many people in the community." (More)
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